Six Town stars of the past were inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame at Friday evening’s Former Players Association Hall of Fame Reunion Dinner, Kevin O’Callaghan, David Linighan, Gavin Johnson, Reg Pickett, Ken Malcolm and Doug Millward.
The dinner in the Sir Bobby Robson Suite was attended by players, their families, guests, former club employees and sponsors.
Among those present were Ray Crawford and John Compton from the 1961/62 Division One championship-winning team and stars of Robson’s sides, among them John Wark, Russell Osman, Frans Thijssen, Allan Hunter, Mick Lambert, Brian Talbot, Kevin Steggles, Bryan Hamilton and Laurie Sivell, as well as coach Cyril Lea.
Irvin Gernon and Ian Cranson were there from the Bobby Ferguson years and members of John Lyall’s Second Division title-winning side attending included Mick Stockwell, Simon Milton, Chris Kiwomya and Jason Dozzell.
From the George Burley era, Martijn Reuser, Adam Tanner and Lee Bracey, plus a number of players from all eras who were in the club’s youth system without progressing into the first team at Town.
Manager Kieran McKenna, CEO Mark Ashton and director Ed Schwartz were also in attendance at the event, which was the 41st Reunion Dinner and the first since 2019 due to the pandemic.
Former skippers Terry Butcher and Matt Holland MCed, while Crawford spoke about posthumous winners Pickett, Malcolm and Millward.
Butcher and former team-mate O’Callaghan entertainingly sparred as the winger received his award, stories continuing to flow in the same vein as Osman made the presentation, none of the winners having been aware they were set to be added to the Hall of Fame until being called to the stage.
Boyhood Town fan Johnson was very emotional when he received his award, team-mate Milton making the presentation, and Linighan was similarly speechless when receiving his from Dozzell, Kiwomya having made an impromptu speech paying tribute to his former captain’s leadership skills.
Kevin O’Callaghan
O’Callaghan, 60, joined the Blues from Millwall for £200,000 in 1980 and went on to make 89 starts and 59 sub appearances, scoring five goals.
Capped 21 times by the Republic of Ireland, 17 while with Town, the winger was often a sub for Robson’s side but still played a vital role as the Blues carried off the UEFA Cup in 1980/81.
O’Callaghan was among the Town players to appear in the film Escape to Victory and had one of the more prominent roles as goalkeeper Tony Lewis, who had his arm deliberately broken.
David Linighan
Centre-half Linighan, 57, was the skipper of the Town side which won the Second Division title under John Lyall in 1991/92.
Signed from Shrewsbury in 1988, the Hartlepool-born defender went on to make 325 starts and three sub appearances for the Blues, scoring 13 times, many of those in the Premier League before departing for Blackpool in January 1996 following a loan spell.
Gavin Johnson
Stowmarket-born Johnson came through the youth ranks at Town and was another member of the team which won the Second Division in 1991/92.
The left-back or left midfielder famously scored the Blues’ equaliser in the fifth round FA Cup replay against Liverpool at Anfield that season and netted Town’s first goal in the Premier League the following year in the campaign opener at home to Aston Villa.
Still based locally, Johnson, now 51, played in non-league in Suffolk for many years having ended his professional career.
Reg Pickett
Pickett, who was born in Bareilly, India where his father was in the services, was signed from Portsmouth, with whom he had won the First Division in 1950, for £5,000 by Sir Alf Ramsey in 1957 and was made captain. He went on to make 148 appearances for the Blues, scoring four times.
The wing-half appeared in 26 games in the 1960/61 campaign in which Town won the Second Division but on only three occasions the following year when the Blues carried off the Football League championship for the only time in their history.
He left Town to join Stevenage in June 1963 and died in November 2012 in Rowlands Castle, Hampshire.
Ken Malcolm
Aberdeen-born Malcolm joined Town from Arbroath in May 1954. While with the Blues the left-back made 293 appearances, scoring twice.
A member of the teams which won Division Three South in 1956/57 and Division Two in 1960/61, Malcolm made only three league appearances in the 1961/62 First Division championship after suffering a back injury early in the campaign.
Former Royal Navy nurse Malcolm, who died aged 79 in December 2006, captained Town in their first European match at Portman Road against Floriana Valetta in September 1962.
Following his retirement as a player, Malcolm coached youngsters and was involved in setting up the club's youth system alongside manager Jackie Milburn.
Doug Millward
Sheffield-born Millward joined the Blues from Southampton in June 1955 and went on to make 156 appearances, scoring 36 goals.
The forward was a member of Ramsey’s teams which which Division Three South in 1956/57 and Division Two in 1960/61 but didn’t make a league appearance in the 1961/62 First Division championship season.
Millward, who left the Blues to move on to Poole Town in June 1963, is best known for having scored the club’s quickest goal, netting after only 10 seconds in a game against Newport County at Portman Road in February 1957. He died in 2000 while living in the US.